Living and Coping With Diabetes

Diabetes is on the rise, with more and more people getting it by the day. Obesity and a bad diet can increase your risk of getting it and once you do get it you will have to start taking medication. If you notice that you are getting more yeast infections than usual and you are overweight, you might want to get tested for diabetes.(more…)

Along with a long list of other complications, gum disease can result from diabetes that is not properly controlled. The two main forms of gum disease are gingivitis and periodontitis. With gingivitis, the gums become red and swollen and may easily bleed. If not treated, this milder form of gum disease can become full-blown periodontitis, which is where the gums pull away from the teeth and infection takes a firm hold, leading to bone, tissue and tooth loss.

It’s heart-wrenching to watch all that people go through as natural disasters play out on our television screens. Tucked away, along with sympathy for those in the midst of a hurricane, earthquake, flood or other catastrophic events, is the very understandable thought, “I’m so glad that’s not happening to me!”. The truth is, however, that we are all susceptible to major life-changing events, and they can happen with very little notice. Those with a chronic medical condition, like diabetes, are especially vulnerable and should take seriously the advice to be prepared. (more…)

We all have our favorite holiday activities. It might be watching fireworks on the 4th of July, heading to the beach for Labor Day, as summer winds down, or finding the perfect pumpkin to carve for Halloween. For many of us, it’s the non-stop activities that seem to begin with the Macy’s Day Parade, early Thanksgiving morning, and continue through the last bowl game on New Year’s Day. But, no matter what holiday or activity tops your list, you can bet that it involves not only extreme amounts of food and drink but the kind designed to send blood sugar levels through the roof. (more…)

Diabetes has become so common in the U.S. that there may be a danger of losing sight of just how serious a disease it is. In the diabetic community, there has long been a saying that diabetes won’t kill you, but its complications will. The list of complications is long and includes, heart disease, nerve damage, kidney failure, foot and leg amputation, blindness, Alzheimer’s and a host of others. And, while the saying about diabetes not killing you may be catchy, the truth, according to the American Diabetes Association, is that, “Diabetes remains the 7th leading cause of death in the United States in 2015, with 79,535 death certificates listing it as the underlying cause of death, and a total of 252,806 death certificates listing diabetes as an underlying or contributing cause of death.”(more…)

There are over 30 million people in the U.S. who have diabetes, even if nearly a quarter of them have not been diagnosed. 13 million individuals in the U.S. have been diagnosed with urinary incontinence, and it is believed that the percentage of undiagnosed incontinence is likely to be significant. Diabetes is a disease, while incontinence is a symptom related to lifestyle choices, physical issues or an underlying medical condition. Urinary incontinence is often linked to diabetes because diabetes is one of the more common medical conditions that contribute to incontinence. (more…)

Most people know that diabetes involves the inability to control glucose, or blood sugar, by not producing enough insulin or not managing it correctly. This leads to elevated levels of glucose in the body, which can result in very serious complications, such as heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, nerve damage, hardening of the arteries, foot and leg amputation and blindness.(more…)

Understanding how food affects blood sugar level and constantly monitoring it is a way of life for those with diabetes. This largely involves the balance between the amount of insulin currently in the body at any given time and how the foods we eat change that it. At center stage for this daily drama are carbohydrates. Knowing the difference between how the various types of carbohydrates are processed by the body is key to maintaining blood sugar levels.(more…)

The A1C is a common blood test that measures the amount of glucose that is attached to the hemoglobin in our red blood cells. It has a variety of other names, including glycated hemoglobin, glycosylated hemoglobin, hemoglobin A1C and HbA1 and is used in the diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes. Unlike the traditional blood glucose test, the A1C does not require fasting, and blood can be drawn at any time of day. It is hoped that this will result in more people getting tested and decreasing the number of people with undiagnosed diabetes, which is currently estimated to be more than 7 million adults in the U.S.(more…)

Pedicures may seem like a modern indulgence, but they actually date back more than 4,000 years to the ancient Babylonians. The word pedicure comes from the Latin “pes” for foot and “cura” for care. Originally practiced to prevent foot problems, today, more popular than ever, pedicures combine nail and skin care with a relaxing and self-pampering experience enjoyed not only by women but more and more by men, also. (more…)